THE PIONEER ACADEMY TEACHER CONFERENCE

November 2018

This month, The Pioneer Academy hosted their first teacher conference. Over 180 teachers and leaders from across our 8 schools attended the conference, entitled 'Working Together', focusing on the importance of collaboration,

We were delighted to welcome Sir David Carter as our keynote speaker at the event. Sir David, who was the National Schools Commissioner from 1st February 2016 to 31st August 2018, is passionate about making a difference to children's life chances; something that The Pioneer Academy strives to achieve. Sir David's inspirational presentation was followed with workshops enabling teachers to work together to discuss and decide what more they can do to further enhance the education received by all our pupils.

HEAD BOYS AND GIRLS FROM ALL OF THE PIONEER ACADEMY schools LAY WREATHS FOR REMEMBRANCE DAY

November 2018

The Head Boys and Head Girls from across The Pioneer Academy laid wreaths for Remembrance and read poignant words by the war memorial. #wewillremember

DAVID BUTLER VISITS sOUTH NORWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL

October 2018

David Butler visited South Norwood Primary School on 9th October 2018. He toured the school and stayed to have lunch with the children.

He said "It is wonderful to come and see the impressive work being done by children and staff at South Norwood".

Thank you David for recognising the impact the hardworking staff and children have had so far.

bROADMEAD pRIMARY SCHOOL HAS A NEW SENSORY ROOM

October 2018

The new sensory room in Broadmead Primary’s nurture facility, was opened on the 5th October by Steve Reed MP and Shelley Davies (Head of standards, safeguarding and inclusion– Croydon LA).

The sensory room is specifically designed to combine a range of stimuli to help children develop and engage their senses. It includes lights, colours, sounds and textures and allows children to explore and interact without risk. We are really excited to use this new and exciting provision.

AUTHOR JEREMY STRONG VISITS STEWART FLEMING PRIMARY SCHOOL

October 2018

Bears, picnics and laughter were the order of the day when Michael Rosen visited the school this week. The award winning poet captivated the children with two hilarious performances and stayed long after the school day ended to ensure the children recieved their signed books. He even found time to make a visit to the cave in our new reception play area - where he found the bear he has been hunting for all these years. Thank you to the PTA for making this all possible.

MP JAMES BROKENSHIRE VISITS BURNT OAK JUNIOR SCHOOL

September 2018

James Brokenshire MP for Sidcup and Old Bexley, joined the new Head Boy and Head Girl of Burnt Oak Junior School for a round of golf to celebrate their election and the school’s recent achievement

On Friday 14 September, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire, MP visited the pupils at Burnt Oak Junior School, which has recently been judged ‘Outstanding’. Ofsted inspectors said, ‘The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. A rich curriculum is in place, which inspires pupils to learn.’

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government presented the Head Boy, Head Girl with their badges, following a successful democratic vote by pupils and staff. The process was part of the school’s curriculum to raise pupil awareness of democracy within British Values and in light of International Democracy Day (15th Sept 2018).

The Head Boy and Head Girl showed a real interest in the roles and responsibilities of their local MP by asking searching questions, including:

‘Can you advise us on how to be a good representative of the people?’

Rt Hon James Brokenshire, MP responded, ‘Listen carefully to what others say. Always approach things with an open mind. Remember to consider different points of view when making a decision.’

Ms Denman, Head of School said, ‘Today was a delightful event. We are very proud of all our children and as the Ofsted inspectors commented, ‘pupils enjoy the challenge of learning’. They are all developing the qualities required to become citizens of the future.’

MP TERESA PEARCE VISITS BELVEDERE JUNIOR SCHOOL

September 2018

On Friday 14th September, pupils and staff at Belvedere Junior School were delighted to receive a visit from Teresa Pearce MP.

The Erith and Thamesmead representative – who in 2017 was returned to Parliament with 57% of the vote - had been invited to oversee the school’s annual Head Girl and Head Boy election.

Becky Lomax, Head Teacher, escorted Teresa Pearce on a walk around the school which in recent times has been ranked in the top 20% nationally for student progress.

Following her tour of the school (known locally as a lush green oasis in an urban setting) Teresa Pearce began the prestigious task of counting the votes!

Once all votes were counted, the candidates were very excited to be informed of the outcome by a member of the House of Commons – a true bastion of British democracy!

Teresa Pearce – who raised her daughters in neighbouring Erith – stated, “This is a fantastic school; it was a pleasure to meet so many engaged and enthusiastic pupils and staff. The developments in the building and the grounds have created a bright and happy learning environment.”

Becky Lomax - Head Teacher – said, “Thank you to Teresa Pearce for taking the time to visit our school. Our children are very proud of the progress that they achieve here and they were thrilled to be given an opportunity to share such a special day with their local MP.”

MIKE ANGELL AND ROGER GOUGH VISIT EDENBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL

September 2018

On Wednesday 12th September, Mike Angell, Kent County Chairman and Roger Gough, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, visited EPS to plant the first of many trees as part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy Project.

Lee Mason-Ellis, CEO of the Pioneer Academy, said, “The visit was a huge success and our guests were honoured to plant the first tree as part of the project. The school council will now decide where to plant the remaining trees. Throughout the visit all the children across the school were a credit to us all, showing focused learning and exemplary behaviour.”

The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy is a unique network of forest conservation initiatives, which involves all 53 countries of the Commonwealth. Overall, 30 trees will be planted within the school grounds to create a forest for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

Headteacher Clare Butcher said, “We are really excited to be starting this project in our school by planting the first of our 30 trees which will enhance our school site and the educational environment for our children.” Whilst visiting, the guests were very impressed with the learning within the school environment and the recent changes undertaken by the staff at Edenbridge Primary School. They commented on the hard work and commitment of the staff to make Edenbridge an exciting learning community.

Edenbridge Primary School inspires each child to flourish, excel and achieve. Our new create curriculum provides happy, memorable learning experiences. Together, with our wider community, we will ensure every day is an extraordinary school day.

What Ofsted said about Burnt Oak Junior School

July 2018

We are absolutely thrilled with the overall judgement of OUTSTANDING and especially pleased with so many incredibly positive comments.

We believe this report is justification of the incredible hard work and professionalism of all the staff, the hard work and behaviour of our children and the support provided by our parents and carers.

AUTHOR JEREMY STRONG VISITS RED HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

June 2018

We have had a very exciting week and were thrilled to have 2 very important visitors in school on Monday, the author Jeremy Strong and The Mayor of Bromley. The Mayor introduced herself to all the children in Year 3 and 4 and she was very impressed with the new provision to nurture our children. Our Head Boy and Head Girl, Shayaan and Fleur, did an amazing job showing all the fantastic work the children do at Red Hill. Every class had the opportunity to meet Jeremy Strong and hear about how he became a published author and many children were able to buy a signed copy of one of his books. He officially opened our Early Years outdoor area and was very impressed with the investments made for the youngest of our children, offering them a brilliant start to their education at Red Hill Primary.

THE PIONEER ACADEMY SPORTS DAY

June 2018

Teams from all of our Pioneer Academy Schools came together at Red Hill Primary School to participate in The Pioneer Academy Sports Day. The day consisted of a netball, football and an athletics competition. Well done to all the children who took part - a great day was had by all.

The Pioneer Academy praised by Lord Agnew

Today at the EPI conference, Lord Agnew, Parliamentary Secretary of State for the School System praised The Pioneer Academy for its work in school efficiencies whilst ensuring the highest of standards for pupils education and care and guidance.

"The Pioneer Academy, a primary MAT based in South London and Kent, use a staff deployment analysis tool to deploy teaching resource into classes. They cross reference across year groups and schools in their trust. The MAT CEO has found this to be a powerful tool helping to ensure staffing resource is focussed where it is most needed.

The MAT’s Chief Operating Officer completes a staff deployment analysis for each of its schools every term. They have used this to inform concrete changes to their staffing models. For example, through the analysis they saw that, in one of their schools, a significant sum of money in teaching resource was allocated to Year 6 compared to Year 5. However, the relative progress of pupils between Year 5 and Year 6 did not support weighting resource to Year 6 in this way. They therefore took a decision to redeploy staff in a more balanced way between these year groups, in order to drive improvements in pupil outcomes. This has worked.

This is not about identifying how budgets can be balanced in the short term. It’s about delivering outcome-led financial planning based on delivering educational outcomes."

OUR NEW ENVIRONMENT CHAMPIONS

May 2018

Mr Gillett invited Joanne Bradley, the Waste Education Officer from Bexley Council, today to do an assembly on Litter.

The children learnt about what they could do to help make the environment a cleaner, safer place. 10 lucky Year 4 children were chosen by their teachers for their maturity and thoughtfulness to be our new Environment Champions. One of their responsibilities is to ensure the school environment remains clean and tidy.

SPRING WRITING MODERATION

March 2018

We've had our Spring writing moderation meetings this week. Teachers from all of our schools were able to read and discuss children's writing over the course of 3 afternoons, leading to consistent judgments and the sharing of great ideas.

THE HEAD BOYS AND GIRLS FROM ALL THE PIONEER ACADEMY SCHOOLS MEET UP

February 2018

All the Head Boys and Girls from The Pioneer Academy schools had the chance to meet one another this week. They all gathered together at Redhill Primary School where they had a tour, joined in a lesson and had the opportunity to chat about their different schools. Next half term they are all going to meet at Broadmead and Stewart Fleming Primary School.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BURNT OAK JUNIOR SCHOOL

16th January 2018

In December the best performing primary schools in Bexley in the Key Stage 2 tests were revealed. Primary school league tables show with schools ranked by what percentage of its students are meeting the expected standard. The Government has now published the results, ranking schools by the percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard. Based on those rankings Burnt Oak came out in 5th place.

We were very proud of this result and it confirms that the school is on its journey towards being outstanding!

bROADMEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL - NURSERY EXPANSION

3rd January 2018

Broadmead Primary School have big plans to expanded their Nursery.

NEW EYFS OUTDOOR LEARNING AREA AT STEWART FLEMING PRIMARY SCHOOL

December 2017

Stewart Fleming Primary School have a brand new EYFS out door learning area.

WRITING MODERATION

5th December 2017

Over the past two days Teachers from our six academy schools have been busy assessing the writing of children across all key stages, leading to consistent judgments and the sharing of great ideas.

WHY NURTURE

Click on the above link to see a presentation by The Pioneer Academy's Head of Pupil Welfare.

30TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AT BELVEDERE JUNIOR SCHOOL

November 2017

On Friday 10th November the whole school celebrated Belvedere Junior School's 30th Birthday. We all dressed up in 80s fancy dress and sang an array of 80s classics in assembly. The day culminated in each class celebrating with a birthday cake , kindly donated by the PTA, where 'Happy Birthday Belvedere' was sung by each class.

STEWART FLEMING PRIMARY SCHOOL'S NEW BUILDING

7th November 2017

Stewart Fleming Primary School's new school building was opened by Dominic Herrington on 31st October 2017. The opending featured in the news shopper.

BURNT OAK JUNIOR SCHOOL GOVERNORS MEET THE SCHOOL COUNCIL

2nd November 2017

Today some of the School Council members had the opportunity to meet the Burnt Oak Junior School Governors. They talked about their role on the School Council and then the Governors explained how they support the school. Lots of questions were asked by both the children and Governors in order to find out more about each others roles. The children spoke very positively about BOJ and what they enjoyed most about being a pupil here.

RED HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL TRAVEL AMBASSADORS

October 2017

The JTAs Induction Day was on Tuesday 17th October. The JTAs were presented with their certificates and Gold JTA badges by the Mayor of Bromley. Kathy Bance.

KATHERINE BANCE MBE VISITS STEWART FLEMING PRIMARY SCHOOL

October 2017

We were lucky to be joined by a special guest on Wednesday morning - Her Worshipful Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Kathy Bance visited our school. She enjoyed a tour of the school and was especially impressed by our new build before joining us in celebrating 5Ms learning in their class assembly. Madam Mayor addressed the children and commented on how smart and well behaved our children are and how it made for a refreshing start to her busy day.

The picture shows Madam Mayor meeting our Head Girl and Head Boy.

THE VISIT OF DOMINIC HERRINGTON

31st October 2017

On Tuesday 31st October, Dominic Herrington, The Regional Schools’ Commissioner, along with The Pioneer Academy’s Trustees, Governors, Site Project Manager, Architect and members from the catering team, Nourish, were invited for a tour of our school before officially opening up the new EYFS building. The guests were impressed with the super facilities offered by this new purpose-built learning environment and also took the opportunity to view the hard work produced across the school. The guests were met by our Head Girl and Head Boy, as well as a fellow year six pupil, who asked Dominic some very impressive questions; these will feature in the next edition of the school’s newspaper.

For more photographs please see the Stewart Fleming web site.

BROADMEAD'S FREE THREE COURSE LUNCHES OVER HALF TERM

24th October 2017

Broadmead Primary School has teamed up with Nourish Catering to provide free of charge lunches for families of students from Monday to Wednesday of the half term break.

RED HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL GIRLS FOOTBALL

The Year 5 and 6 Girls Football Team won all their football matches to qualify for the Bromley final which will take place on Tuesday 28th November. The results were as follows:

Red Hill 2 - 1 St Mary's

Red Hill 2 - 0 Raglan

Red Hill 2 - 0 Burnt As.

Well done Girls!

WRITING MODERATION

10th October 2017

Day 2 of the Writing Moderation at The Pioneer Academy.

Over the past two days, more than 20 teachers from our six academy schools have assessed the writing of over 100 children across all key stages. This collaborative approach leads to consistent judgements of the children's writing and leaves teachers feeling empowered and supportive.

CHATSWORTH INFANT SCHOOL'S NEW LIBRARY

October 2017

Our wonderful Parents Association raised enough money to buy us this incredible new library. The PA work so hard all year round to raise funds for the school and we are so grateful for their commitment and continued support.